Alan CrossI’ve always been a geek. Just ask anyone I went to school with or any the girls I tried to date.

My obsession with music began at age six when my grand­mother gave me a transistor radio—an old Lloyds—which spawned an all-consuming fascination with things that came over airwaves. A few years later, my uncle—who moonlighted by servicing jukeboxes—kick started my record collection by dumping a box of old 7-inch singles on me one Sunday afternoon. I was hooked.Alan Cross

In 1980, I got my start CKUW at the University of Winnipeg, which, at the time, was a closed-circuit station. Our broadcast range was limited to one hallway and one cafeteria.

After graduating I ended up at CJRL in Kenora, a 1,000 watt AM station that broadcast to the people and wildlife of Northwestern Ontario. From there, it was on to KX-96/Brandon and Q94-FM/Winnipeg before I ended up at CFNY (renamed The Edge) in October 1986. I’d first heard about the place through Rush’s “Spirit of Radio” when I was still in high school and remember thinking to myself “Wouldn’t it be cool to work there one day?”

Dr. John Davis
The mechanics of music: the scientific beauty of sound
Dr. John Davis, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Alberta

Have you ever wondered what music really is? For example, when an instrument is played, what really happens to allow us to experience it the way we do? Much like water, air is a fluid that supports mechanical motion — also called sound. By controlling the mechanics of this fluid, sound can be transmitted and measured and experienced, which is arguably a process as beautiful as music itself.

Bio: While John is American, don’t hold that against him. He has lived in Edmonton for nine years, and has made this place home. He teaches physics at the U of A, does research into quantum mechanical systems at ultra-low temperatures, and over the past year has made a foray into entrepreneurship. His vision is to make Edmonton a place where future quantum technology companies thrive, and to enjoy a few Albertan beers along the way.